Rating: 
Summary: WONDERFUL!
Review: This is one of the best books I've read, not only does it have intrigue and action, but the main character, Anna, actually stands up for herself instead constantly ranting on about how horrible this world is and how she can't see her children anymore and so on and so forth. The author really knew how to create a fantasy world and not get caught up with such details as to explaning how the peble in Armsman Steve's boot is bothering him. Even though this book had some problems, the one thing that really kept me reading is the rate at which the plot progressed. I was amazed. After reading Jobert Jorden's "A Crown of Swords" (in which the plot couldn't beat a snail in a race) I was very happy to find a book where the main character actually did something. In my opinion it would take Jorden three one thousand page books for the main character to do what Anna did in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting. . . but. . .
Review: Can the story last too long? Definetely
Rating: 
Summary: Moments of interest peppered in a vat of tedium.
Review: While this book had some exciting moments, I found myself losing patience frequently--with Anna for being aggressive instead of effective (if all else fails, kill 'em.), with the characters around her for being almost unfailingly dimwitted or degenerate, or with Modesitt for using 600+ pages where 300 would have sufficed. There were some exciting moments, and some times where I found myself fleetingly beginning to like a character, but mostly I was either yawning or irritated.p.s. Modesitt needs to learn more about horses if he wishes to write realistically about them. Until then, perhaps his characters should have faithful dogs.
Rating:
Summary: Can anyone exploit the treasure that is fantasy?
Review: I'm beginning to think not. When given a fantasy book, a world, per say, where anything can be contrived to add to the author's vision, what usually happens? They make it so similar to our own that the fantasy elements are just cliched enough to make it, appropriately, fantastic. This is another one of those backs that is decent enough, but once again falls shorts of the glory that Tolkien or Lewis ever knew. Anna Marshall is one of the many classic characters in literature who has been taken out of her homeworld (Earth) and her home problems (a painful divorce, sketchy relationships with her daughters, a recent death and a career which is diminished by the sickening people she must work with) to Erde. Because Anna had exquisite singing talent on Earth, she becomes a target on Erde, where that type of talent means power, the power of magical songs. (Sounds like my type of place.) Immediately, a saga that entwines her between protecting good, just common interests and living between the scum of the highest crop while simultaneously having to deal with medieval ideas about gender, begins. No, life is not easy for Anna, nor the reader. The only thing remotely creative about the book is the use of song as magic and with the exception of a few spectacular instances, it is a wholly dull system which could have been so much more abstract and exciting. Anna is a well-developed character, but Modesitt's dealing with equality issues makes her seem like a raging feminist all too often and his usual method of presenting the character's thoughts as dry analyzation, appropriately, dries them out. That's not the only thing that is dry, as Defalk, the land she ends up protecting for both selfish and unselfish reasons is a bowl of dust and desert. Modesitt must really want us to know how dusty Defalk is, because he will not stop reiterating the exact same details over and over and over again. Fortunately, the writer has always had a gift with shifting politic in his imaginary lands and it is much this game which makes the pages turns quickly--as old hat as it is concerning this novel is almost exactly like his Recluce ones. The Soprano Sorceress is another decent attempt by Modesitt, fairly pleasing and worth a paperback sale for the weekend. It's largest contribution to the genre is how expertly it symbolizes just how mediocre the best writing is in fantasy now.
Rating: 
Summary: Different but Pretty good
Review: I like this book even if it isn't as good as his Recluce series. The story of Anna while is good isn't as good as teh characters he developed in the Recluce saga. Anna has nothing on Lerris or Nylan. Once that is said it is still a good read and he once again proves that he is a great author.
Rating: 
Summary: For a better version, read 'Mirror of her Dreams'.
Review: A relatively interesting premise, despite the fact that a person being pulled into another world by sorcery and turning out to be a great sorceror has been done previously by numerous of Fantasy's greatest authors, e.g. Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and Mirror of her Dreams by Stephen Donaldson. But while the Saga of recluce has shown Modesitt to be a capable storyteller, his portrayal of a person who accepts being displaced in moments is extremely hard to believe, while the ease with which she grasps song-magic is ridiculous. To make things worse, her powerfuol spells are merely adapted nursery rhymes. For a good version of the same basic ideas, but simultaneously a more fully portrayed and believable female protagonist, a more original system of magic, a more machievellan political structure and less childish language, read 'Mirror of her Dreams' by Stephen Donalson. Highly disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: A GREAT READ!!!!!
Review: Wonderfully immersive, with strong characters, I only have a few problems, one is the name JIMBOB, I keep seeing the waltons for some reason???, not to mention the way that Anna seemed to take mass murder in her stride, using Nazi ideology as an excuse to commit such an atrocity, I dont think I could condone such action, Hiroshima and Nagasaki comes to mind, I doubt if many of us would actually do what she did to the Ebrans.
Rating:
Summary: Awful. Absolutely awful
Review: The best thing about this book is the beautiful map on the inside covers. Other than that, the language is jarringly modern; there is none of the beauty of description or dialog that makes a good fantasy, and the author clearly has no idea what he is talking about when it comes to music. If this was a true spoof, it would be one thing [there are places called the Dunes of Doom and Encore] but unfortunately one gets the impression that Mr. Modisett is serious about this, which makes it even worse. There is much better fantasy out there to be had--look into Amazon's other offerings and pass this one by.
Rating:
Summary: Great fun for us from around the "boring town" of Ames!
Review: I enjoyed the cross-over between Iowa and the world of magic and music. Singing and breaking things is my kind of accidental, blundering kind of fun, with an intelligent level-headed woman trying to keep touch with her daughter back in her own world. It was a fast, entertaining read, because I never knew what would happen next. I am waiting for the less expensive paperback version, not very patiently. . .
Rating:
Summary: Almost perfect - Can't wait for number two
Review: This book is one of the "new" books I've recently read, while waiting for PoD. It's fun, easygoing reading and very, very hard to put down. The plot is not very original, but in the end, wich plots are? It's the way the book is written that determins if it's a winner or not. This one surley is!
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